Stained Finish for Pine Cabin Bed

I was told, I didn't listen, and now I'm paying the price!

I recently completed building a cabin bed (about 900mm off the ground with draws underneath and a bookshelf and steps at the foot of the bed) for my daughter out of pine. My original idea was to use a combination stain and varnish to finish the bed. I was warned that a combination wouldn't give a good finish but it sounded like a quick and easy way to finish the job...I should have listened!

Anyway, the finish wouldn't go on consistently but persistence saw me put a first coat on the whole bed regardless. Whilst applying the second coat I realised that this wasn't going as planned and the finish was awfull. Now I'm in the process of sanding the whole (assembled!!!!) job back to raw timber again for a second attempt. The only consolation here is that it gave me an excuse to buy a Gucci little Metabo detail sander at the Canberra WW Show!

My question to the forum is what are your recommendations for a finish? I want to go darker than the natural pine, the finish I attempted before was "New Golden Oak" by Wattyl. As this is a large project I'm not keen on anything that's going to require sanding down to 1500 grit and then burnishing or any other labour intensive process. I'm after a good looking and durable finish that's not TOO difficult to apply.

I have worked with Organ Oil previously but haven't yet tried any of the Ubeaut products. I'm keen to give them a go but unsure if they're suited to this project. Alternatively I could just use a seperate stain and varnish which was initially my other option.

Any suggestions?

regards

Manix

Hi Manix77,

Sorry to hear about your huge learning experience.

My suggestions:

Do not use Organoil for this - you will be polishing, burnishing, sanding for months, well, not quite, but it will be a long time.

As the bed is already assembled, I'd use Raw Linseed Oil and Turps. 1 part oil to 4 parts turps. Apply with a brush. On raw timber, it will soak in. Apply a couple more coats and polish off. I haven't used this method fully yet, but the linseed oil does give a lovely colour darker than the raw timber and is easy to apply - two of your requirements. Best to do this in a well-ventilated area of course.

Test this on a scrap bit first to see if you are happy with the colour and feel of this finish and to gain an idea of how many coats you'd want.

I haven't recommended UBeaut's Shellac (there's a first:rolleyes: ) as shellacing the cabin bed assembled would be problematic (well, for me anyway) and maybe prone to runs in the shellac.

Spraying Shellac would be better than brushing or rubbing on.

Good Luck.

Others may have better suggestions.

Cheers
Wendy

G'day - what a bummer! Firstly, you are one lucky guy to have been able tyo find New Golden Oak! We did all of our piner lining board ceilings with this colour about 15 years ago - except one room that had the ceiling replaced more recently - and could not find that particular stain/varnish anywhere! Consequently the ceiling in the later room looks a tad different to the rest.

My feeling is that if you have sanded back to bare again, put a sanding sealer over the whole lot, and re-apply the New Golden Oak - it should go on nice and evenly without any probs.
never really believed in sanding sealer until the start of this year when we did our big extension - about 11 metres x 7 metres. ALL the ceilings were done in lining board. So, sanding sealer on, rub back, stain on,, wipe off, clear poly on, sand back, clear poly on, sand back, clear poly on. A mountain of work, but gee the finish is fantastic and the stain went on very evenly - the sanding sealer certainly did its job in evening out the different porosity of the lining boards. (About 170 6 metre boards!). And yes, I did all this before they went up!

So, good luck!!

Hi Manix,
I have experimented with this problem for ages. I now mostly use Sikkens teak stain which produces the "old pine" look. I can regulate the amount by number of coats and wiping while wet. Any grain wil stand out more too. There is also a Sikkens top coat as well.

If you need the exact product codes I can get them for you.

cheers,
conwood

With everyday pine furniture just use an oil based stain.
Finish sand to 240 grit and 320grit on the end grain for a matching colour.(otherwise the endgrain will be very much darker)
Before staining grab a damp(water, just enough to darken the colour of the wood!) rag and wipe over every surface wait till it dries and scuff sand(2or3 wipes only with light pressure)with some 320grit to remove any raised fibres... brush stain on then use a rag to rub it into the grain then wipe off the excess with a clean rag. CAUTION do not let the stain dry before wiping off the excess!!!!
2 coats of poly and she'll be right.

G'Day

Thanks for the tips! The replys have now raised another question.

What is the long term maintenance like on the oiled finishes? Am I goin to have to touch it up every so often? I love the look feel and smell of a natural finish but I'm wary of having to decommision the bed for a weekend to reapply a finish. I know that with varnish it will be pretty much finish and forget.

regards

Manix